Pacific Islanders Survive Cyclone Zoe

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, January 3, 2003

Associated Press Writer

When their solar-powered radio told them a huge cyclone was barreling toward their Pacific paradise, the residents of Tikopia headed for shelter in the hills.

For 12 hours last Sunday, cyclone Zoe lashed their tiny volcanic outcrop, one of the southernmost of the Solomon Islands. The storm, the most powerful Pacific cyclone ever recorded, uprooted trees, destroyed houses and flooded entire villages under 33-foot waves.

The first foreigner to visit the island since the storm said Saturday that though the island "looks like Hiroshima," none of the more than 1,000 islanders was seriously hurt.

"These people used common sense that has come with centuries of dealing with these things," New Zealand cameraman Geoff Mackley told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Saturday after visiting Tikopia. Still, it was "a miracle" no one was killed, he said.

Mackley flew by helicopter to Tikopia on Friday from neighboring Vanuatu.

Earlier he told The Weekend Australian newspaper he feared hundreds of islanders had perished in the storm, which had winds as high as 225 mph.

"But instead we were just overwhelmed with people running toward the plane," he told the newspaper. "Every single person was alive and there they were, standing in front of me."

A Solomon Islands relief ship carrying a nurse, food, water and medical supplies largely paid for by Australia arrived at dawn Sunday _ a week after the storm. A second relief boat carrying more food and emergency supplies was expected to reach the island Monday.

The nurse immediately treated a handful of islanders, said Alan March, assistant director general of Australian government aid organization AusAid.

"There were fortunately no serious injuries and an AusAID nurse has treated those with a few minor injuries," March said.

There were also no serious injuries on the nearby island of Mota Lova, French officials said Saturday after flying there by helicopter.

However, the fate of hundreds of people living on the neighboring island of Anuta was unknown, but the island was not believed to have been as hard hit as Tikopia.

The Solomon Islands ship was heading to Anuta later Sunday.

Islanders on Tikopia told Mackley the fruit they usually eat was ruined by the storm and their water supply was contaminated by salt water and only available at low tide.

"Right now we are depending on great coconuts and other food crops we find left over from the cyclone," one of the islanders, whose name was not given, said in video shot by Mackley. "We expect some assistance from the government or people like yourself _ whatever assistance you give us, the people will depend on that for the meantime."

Before Mackley's report, there was no word of casualties on remote and tiny Tikopia since last Sunday's storm, apart from images taken from planes that flew over. They could not land because the island has no airstrip.

The islander Mackley interviewed said it would take years for some crops to recover. Much of the damage was done by huge, destructive seas whipped up by the storm. The islander said waves were as high as 33 feet.

"If we're going to start planting, replanting, food crops, the sort of crops like potatoes and cassava, there are some varieties that may take three months, but most of the other crops, to get back to normal, will take about two to three years," the islander said.

Tikopia and Anuta are part of the impoverished Solomon Islands, a country of 80 islands 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. The islands' economy is near collapse following years of fighting between rival islanders that has left dozens dead and driven away foreign investors.